by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is a real life love story that will give hope to single women over 35 who are still looking for love in all the wrong places.

Smart and sassy, the bestselling author of The Dirty Girl Social Club books ends up moving home with her divorced father when she hits a dry spell. She is forced to sell her Lexus and pricy home when she hits a “financial dry spell,” as she puts it. She and her young son move back home with her semi-retired professor father.

Finally, at age 42, Alisa is forced to confront the demons in her past when she decides to date again. She falls for a man who seems to be the antithesis of all her feminist values. Unable and unwilling to deny her attraction to a tall, handsome cowboy who is unmistakably attracted to her, Alisa must explore her past as an angry, man-hating, feminist who denied her own womanhood.

Valdes often digresses from her personal narrative to expound on the roles of feminism and gender roles in romantic relationships. However, by sharing her own story, she articulates a common conflict many women feel today between their desire for a strong masculine romantic partner and intellectual and economic equality.

She endearingly admits to a guilty desire to be pretty and sexy while also wanting to be a sassy, intellectual bad ass.

The Cowboy and The Feminist is a fascinating personal memoir as well as an interesting discourse on finding love in the new millennium.